Goodell “disappointed” Tagliabue did not hold Saints accountable

this is a discussion within the Saints Community Forum; NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell worked for Paul Tagliabue, has always expressed admiration for Tagliabue, and believed Tagliabue was the right man to determine the player discipline in the Saints bounty case. But after Tagliabue overruled Goodell and decided that no ...

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell worked for Paul Tagliabue, has always expressed admiration for Tagliabue, and believed Tagliabue was the right man to determine the player discipline in the Saints bounty case. But after Tagliabue overruled Goodell and decided that no Saints players would be suspended, Goodell is disappointed in Tagliabue.

“I was disappointed he could find conduct detrimental and there is no discipline, that he could excuse that type of accountability as a coach’s responsibility,” Goodell said of Tagliabue in an interview with the New York Times. “I don’t share that perspective. This isn’t a new policy. The bounty rule has been in place for decades. It’s a core part of our rules.”

I'm just plain "disappointed" in the NFL. The quality of the product (players) is the best ever, while the pizz poor product (rules changes, Goodhell BS) has resulted in a drop in ratings. All under the leadership of Goodhell......and I also hate ESPN, I would consider them enablers of the commissars policies, all for the sake of enhanced ratings. Merry Christmas

I won't name names but my mom's boyfriend has a guy who played for the 49ers in the late 90s. He told him that the 49ers would call practice squad guys up just for the purpose to be the guys that got into fights and laid out big hits with intent to injure the other team.

But sure Goofdell the Saints were the first team ever to do this. Shut up you dolt

I think the one thing about Roger Goodell that becomes apparent the more this sour year goes on is this: He is his father's son. Goodell has an immunity to criticism that is like few people in the public eye I have encountered. He learned to have a Teflon suit of armor from watching his father, former New York congressman and senator Charles Goodell, take the slings and arrows of his job, including going against his party when he spoke out against the United States' continued involvement in the Vietnam War. It's not over yet for Goodell, who will have to take the slings and arrows for HGH testing, a defamation suit by Jonathan Vilma and his trip to New Orleans for the Super Bowl.

Quote of the Week III
"I was disappointed he could find conduct detrimental and there is no discipline, that he could excuse that type of accountability as a coach's responsibility. I don't share that perspective. This isn't a new policy. The bounty rule has been in place for decades. It's a core part of our rules."
-- Commissioner Roger Goodell, to Judy Battista of the New York Times, in his first expansive comments on Paul Tagliabue's rebuke of his discipline in the New Orleans Saints bounty case.
If you still think Tagliabue was somehow "protecting'' Goodell with his ruling, you wouldn't think that from talking to those close to Goodell -- or, now with Battista's story, by hearing from Goodell himself. It's clear the mentee, Goodell, is angry with the decision of his mentor, Tagliabue. The other money quote from Goodell: "If you want to be a cheerleader, go be a cheerleader. If you want to be a commissioner, then go make the decisions."

But in the 11 months since then, Goodell has been more lightning rod than object of praise, buffeted by criticism of his handling of issues, including player safety, a bounty investigation and the lockout of game officials, whose replacements were widely derided. While the N.F.L. continues to boom — its games have been the top two television shows in all but one of the first 15 weeks of the season (ranking third once); its stadiums are at 98 percent capacity this season; and the NFL Network is now being broadly distributed — so, too, does the drama.

In the last year, the number of former players suing the league in concussion-related lawsuits rose sharply and now stands, by one count, at more than 4,000. The players’ union filed a collusion complaint against the N.F.L. Last week, Paul Tagliabue, Goodell’s mentor and predecessor as commissioner, vacated the discipline that Goodell had imposed on players in the New Orleans Saints’ bounty case. The decision by Tagliabue was a surprising, public setback for Goodell. That led to a stinging critique from Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who said Goodell had “little to no credibility” with players. It was perhaps a self-interested overstatement but indicative, nonetheless, that Goodell’s relationship with at least a segment of N.F.L. players has deteriorated. Goodell’s reaction to Brees, during an interview in his office Thursday, was a snapshot of how he has publicly handled much of the backlash this year. “I keep doing my job,” he said. Then he shrugged.

Goodell framed the Saints’ bounty case as a matter of player safety, too. One week after Tagliabue affirmed the league’s finding that the Saints had placed bounties on opponents, but dismissed Goodell’s discipline of the four players while shifting the blame almost entirely to the team’s coaches and management, Goodell said he did not believe he should have handled the contentious case differently, reiterating that he thought he did an effective job. That is an answer likely to disappoint, or enrage, Saints players and fans who were hoping for Goodell to concede he had erred, or at least reassess how he should have handled the investigation and its fallout. (Goodell suspended Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma for the season, the former Saint Anthony Hargrove for eight games, the Saints’ Will Smith for four games, and the Browns’ Scott Fujita, a former Saint, for three games. He also suspended New Orleans Coach Sean Payton for the season, among other discipline against Saints coaches and officials. Fujita was cleared of any wrongdoing by Tagliabue.)

Goodell said that in an era when players had more input into how teams functioned, they should be held as accountable as team officials. And he rejected the idea, contained in Tagliabue’s report, that the gradual implementation of a steroids policy, by the former commissioner Pete Rozelle, might have served as an example for a better way to handle the bounty case and the attempt to affect a culture change to rid the game of bounties.

“What you’re doing is you’re enforcing the rules,” Goodell said. “What is clear is there were violations of the bounty rules. That’s not just my opinion and our facts. It’s been supported by everyone who has looked at it, including Commissioner Tagliabue. That doesn’t belong in the game of football. And that’s something we’ve made very clear. We didn’t look for this. But when it occurs, you’ve got to deal with it and make sure there is no misunderstanding that everybody is accountable.”

He added: “All of us have a role to make sure the game is safer. I was disappointed he could find conduct detrimental and there is no discipline, that he could excuse that type of accountability as a coach’s responsibility. I don’t share that perspective. This isn’t a new policy. The bounty rule has been in place for decades. It’s a core part of our rules.

I won't name names but my mom's boyfriend has a guy who played for the 49ers in the late 90s. He told him that the 49ers would call practice squad guys up just for the purpose to be the guys that got into fights and laid out big hits with intent to injure the other team.

But sure Goofdell the Saints were the first team ever to do this. Shut up you dolt

Its common, if they ever want to put a dent in this kind of play, they do something about the useless Injury report.

I know the 49ers ran a bounty system in the 80s, I am pretty damn sure that the 49ers are running one right now, as well as the Ravens and Steelers. Most likely Panthers are heading in that direction.